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SMITHSONLiN CONTRIBUTIONS TO

VOLUME 2, Number 5

Notes on the History and Material Culture of the Tonka^wa Indians

William K. Jones

SMITHSONIAN PRESS Washington: 1969 A Publication of the SMITHSONIAN INSTITUTION National Museum

LIBRARY OF CONGRESS CARD 71-601221

U.S. GOVERNMENT PRINTING OFHCE, WASHINGTON : 1969

For sale by the Superintendent of Documents, U.S. Government Printing Office Washington, D.C. 20402 - Price 55 cents Acknowledgments

Appreciation is expressed to the National Endovraient for the Humanities which, through its intern program, provided the financial support for my research and to John G. Ewers, senior ethnologist for the Smithsonian Institution, who suggested the study and guided my work. Many others aided, including Mr. George S. Metcalf, supervisor of the Processing Laboratory of the Smithsonian Office of Anthropology, Miss Helen R. Purde, assistant curator of the Armed Forces Institute of Pathology Medical Museum and Mrs. Sarah Jackson, of the National Archives and Records Service. For their technical information, my thanks to Mrs. Roxie G. Laybourne, zoologist, Bird and Mammal Laboratory, Division of Wild Life Re­ search, Bureau of Sport Fisheries and Wild Life, Department of Interior; Dr. Richard N. Jorgensen, principal wood technologist, Forest Products and Engineering Divi­ sion, Forest Service, Department of Agriculture; and Dr. Elson B. Helv/ig, patholo­ gist, Armed Forces Institute of Pathology. Contents

Page ACKNOWLEDGMENTS iii

NOTES ON THE HISTORY AND MATERIAL CULTURE OF THE INDIANS .. 65

OBJECT DESCRIPTION 74

CONCLUSIONS 77

LITERATURE CITED 79

Illustrations (Follow page 70) FIGURES 1. Assistant Surgeon Henry McElderry, . Collector of the Tonkawa material described in this paper 2. Tonkawa quiver, bow, and 3. Tonkawa 4. Top, Tonkawa bow; middle, rattle or "haw-whootes"; bottom, girdle 5. Tonkawa bow and five arrows 6. Tonkawa trade tomahawk 7. Tonkawa trade tomahawk, detail of head 8. Tinder pouch and striker 9. Tonkawa wooden scraper handle 10. Tonkawa war drum and drum sticks 11. Tonkawa otter skin girdle 12. Top, Tonkawa head ornament; bottom, head ornament 13. Tonkawa head ornament 14. Tonkawa dolls, front view 15. Tonkawa dolls, back view 16. Tonkawa George Miles, an old army scout and the last chief of the Tonkawa 17. Tonkawa woman, Ocoya, wife of Standing Buffalo 18. Tonkawa shelter, Agency, , 1901 19. Tonkawa Lamar Richard's house, Ponca Agency, 1901 MAPS 1. Historic locations of the Tonkawa Indians 2. Location of the Tonkawa Massacre in 1862 3. Location of the Tonkawa Indian village near Reserve, , in 1871 Notes on the History and Material Culture of the Tonka^wa Indians

By William K. Jones

One of the litde-known of central Texas was period of nearly 200 years, indicate that the Tonkawa the Tonkawa. Few objects made and used by the were not a large . A Spanish estimate in 1778 Tonkawa are preserved in museum collections, and no gives 300 warriors. Sibley estimated the Tonkawa at description of traditional Tonkawa material culture, but 200 men in 1805, and the tribal population con­ based upon a study of actual specimens, has appeared tinued to decline thereafter. Heavy war losses, epi­ in the literature. Nevertheless, a small but unique col­ demics, and loss of tribal identity through marriages lection of Tonkawa materials has been a part of the outside the tribe, as well as other factors, contributed ethnological collections of the Smithsonian Institution to this decline. Of the sixty-two Tonkawa Indians for a century. It is unique, not only because it is the on the tribal rolls in 1961, only three individuals were earliest known Tonkawa collection, antedating the believed to be fullblood Tonkawa. (Swanton, 1952, extermination of the on the Southern Plains, p. 327; Hasskarl, 1962, p. 228.) but also because the time, place, and conditions under If archeological evidence of the Tonkawa exists, which the collection was made in the field are well it may be represented in the Toyah Focus of the Cen­ documented. In order to place this collection in a tral Texas Aspect. Dr, Edward B. Jelks states that if meaningful cultural and chronological context I have the Toyah Focus material excavated at the Kyle Site, prefaced my description of the specimens with a brief located on the just above Whitney Dam historical sketch of the Tonkawa, with particular in Hill County, Texas, can be related to a historic emphasis upon the years immediately preceding the group, it is probably Tonkawa and/or Jumano. But acquisition of these materials by Dr. McElderry at he also believes that this focus may have come to an Fort Griffin, Texas, in 1868. end in the late prehistoric period and another, yet Although the Tonkawa call themselves Titskan undescribed, group may have taken its place. This wdtitch, "the most human people," the tribal name is later group, represented by triangular arrow points, derived from the Waco name for these people, Tonka- Goliad Plain pottery, and other artifact styles, "may weya, meaning "they all stay together." The Co­ represent the archeological remains of the historic manche and , northwestern neighbors and and protohistoric Tonkawa . . . ." Radiocarbon dates longtime enemies of the Tonkawa, knew them by from the Toyah Focus at the Kyle Site range from names which, in translation, meant "man-eating A.D. 1276 ±165 years to A.D. 1561 ±130 years. men" or "maneaters." The Tonkawan language (Jelks, 1962, p. 99.) apparently was affiliated with Karankawa, Come- The historic record of the Tonkawa Indians begins crudo, and Cotoname through the common Co- with Francisco de Jesus Maria. In 1691 he included ahuiltecan stock, although too litde is known of the them with the as enemies of the . languages of those extinct tribes to establish with (Hodge, 1910, p. 779.) Earlier meetings between the certainty the closeness of their relationship to and Europeans are questionable. Cabeza de Tonkawan. Vaca may have encountered a Tonkawa subgroup in Available data on Tonkawa population, covering a his flight through Texas in 1542, and Joutel of

65 66 SMITHSONIAN CONTRIBUTIONS TO ANTHROPOLOGY VOLUME 2

LaSalle's party reported hearing about a group called buffalo alone, besides its flesh, which takes first place among the Meghy, possibly the Mayeye, another subgroup, healthful and savory meats, supplies them liberally with what­ ever they desire in the way of conveniences. The brains they in 1687. (Sjoberg, 1953, p. 281.) use to soften skins; the horns for spoons and drinking vessels; The first French encounter came in 1719, when the shoulder bones to dig and to clear off the land; the tendons Benard de la Harpe, while carrying out orders to for thread and for bow-strings; the hoof, as glue for arrows; from enter into trade with the Spanish and to explore the mane they make ropes and girths; from the wool, garters, , came into contact with the belts, and various ornaments. The skin furnishes harness, lassos, shields, tents, shirts, leggins, shoes, and blankets for protection Tancaoye, the Tonkawa. M. Du Rivage, La Harpe's against the cold—truly valuable treasures, easily acquired, lieutenant, met these Indians, along with representa­ quietly possessed, and lighdy missed, which liberally supply an tives of several other tribes seventy leagues up the infinite number of people, whom we consider poverty-stricken, Red River from Kadohadocho. (Smith, 1959, p. 375- with an excess of those necessities which perpetuate our struggles, 76.) Herbert E. Bolton, in his discussion of the anxieties, and discords. (Bolton, 1941a, p. 279-80). Tonkawa in the Handbook of the American Indians, In the same letter de Meziere describes the offensive states that the Red River may have been a temporary weapons and defensive armament carried by these location for the Tonkawa. (Hodge, 1910, p. 780.) people. The former are firearms, bows, and spears; During the early period of Spanish contact with the the latter of "skins, shields, and leather helmets with Tonkaway-speaking Mayeye, Yojuane, Ervipiane, horns and gaudy feathers." (Ibid, p. 278.) and Tonkawa, these Indians were living a nomadic By 1778 the Mayeye division of the Tonkawa had life along a broad belt from the River on separated themselves from the rest of the group and the southwest to the on the northeast had moved to an area near the mouths of the and extending out about 125 miles either side of the and Brazos Rivers. Here they joined the Karankawan Camino Real between San Antonio and Nacogdoches. Cocos Indians and by 1805 were apparently com­ They are reported being seen frequently along this pletely incorporated into this tribe. During this same road between 1727 and 1730, and from 1745 to period the rest of the Tonkawan groups began to be 1762 three missions were established for the Tonkawas considered a single tribe. (Sjoberg, 1953, p. 283.) on the San Xavier River, San Gabriel River today. The Tonkawa were wandering between the Trinity (See Map 1.) (Bolton, 1914b, p. 327.) and Colorado Rivers in 1805. The approximately 200 Up to the late relations between the Tonkawa men of the tribe are described as good hunters prey­ and Spanish were fairly peaceful, but in the spring of ing primarily on buffalo and . They used the 1758 the Tonkawa for the only time in their history bow and were excellent horsemen. Their relationship joined the to attack the Lipan Mission, with the Spanish seemed alternately friendly and on the , near the present town of hostile, and their economy was still based on gathering Menard, Texas. (Dunn, 1914, p. 404—11.) During the wild fruit and hunting. They are described as a next ten years the Tonkawa lived along the San physically strong, athletic people. (Sibley, 1832, p. Gabriel River. On 4 July, 1772, Athanase de Mezieres 723.) sent a letter to Baron de Ripperda, governor of Two years later, while his Spanish captors were Texas, in which he describes the Tancaques, Tonkawa, escorting him across Texas along the San Antonio as abhorred vagabonds, "a people without fixed Road, Zebulon Montgomery Pike became the first homes, of undeveloped language, and disposed to American to meet and to describe the Tonkawa, thievery." (Bolton, 1914a, pp. 289-90.) At this time On 16 June 1807, he encountered several near a small they were living between the Trinity and Brazos Spanish station on the . The next day Rivers. he visited a large encampment of more than forty Seven years later de Mezieres, writing to Theodore lodges. He described the Indians as follows: de Croix, commandant-general of the Interior Provinces, described a group of Tonkawas with The Tancards (Tonkawas) are a nation of Indians who rove on whom he was traveling in the area of the San Andres the banks of Red river (Colorado), and are 600 men strong. They follow the buffalo and wild horses, and carry on a trade River, today. On this trip with Chief with the . They are armed with the bow, arrow, and Mocho and seventy-five of his people, de Mezieres lance. They are erratic and confined to no particular district: observed their dependence on hunting and gathering. are a tall, handsome people, in conversation have a peculiar The most important animal to the Tonkawa, as with clucking, and express more by signs than any savages I ever the other Plains tribes, was the buffalo. In de Mezieres' visited: and in fact, language appears to have made less progress. They complain much of their situation and the treatment of the letter to de Croix he describes their relationship to Spaniards; are extremely poor, and except the Appaches, were the buffalo as follows: the most independent Indians we encountered in the Spanish In truth, one cannot exaggerate the inestimate benefits for territories. They possess large droves of horses. (Jackson, 1966, which these natives are indebted to divine providence. The p. 79.) NUMBER 5 JONES: TONKAWA INDIANS 67

Samuel Davenport in an 1809 report on the Indian on the other's land. As the whites became increasingly populations in the Interior Provinces of annoyed by the Tonkawa, they decided to assemble stated that the Tancahuos, Tonkawa, ranged between all of them and move them away from the white the Brazos and San Marcos Rivers, above and below settled areas. At the time when the Tonkawa were the Camino Real. He estimated the population at about to be forced to move, a group of Lipan arrived 250 men and their families. They were hunters with a letter firom Austin making them guardians preying on deer and buffalo and doing no planting. over the Tonkawa, The Lipan reportedly took them Davenport also stated that the Tonkawa generally to an area between the upper Nueces and the Rio formed two groups. (Davenport, 1809, p. 204.) Grande, Both tribes remained in this area for several Between 1809 and 1820 the Tonkawa were ranging years but eventually drifted back toward the coast along the middle and lower reaches of the Guadalupe, and white settlements. (Sjoberg, 1953, p. 283.) Colorado, and Brazos Rivers. In 1820 two statements By 1827 the Tonkawa and Lipan moved back into assessing their military prowess appear. One is an the more setded areas south of the San Antonio unsigned and undated document attached to an Road. In February 1827, James Kerr reported to AprU 1820 paper in the Territorial Archives. Austin that he had heard of a batde in which the This document states that the "Toncowas (Ton­ and Waco attacked a party of Lipan and kawa), . . . are considered to be the most expert with "nearly all the Tonkawas" on the fire arms, and warlike Indians of any in the Province about nine miles above the town of Gonzalez. The of Texas." (U.S. Territorial Papers, 1820, p. 198.) The Lipan and Tonkawa suffered a defeat and lost other statement is made with equal force that "they between five and six hundred horses. (Barker, 1922b, are not so warlike as those Indians (Comanche and p. 1607.) Another battie fought the same year farther Lipan) . . . ." It goes on to say that they wiU fight and east on Yequa Creek, in present Washington County, do not lack valor, but they are "lazier and greater apparently turned out to be a draw between the knaves" than the Comanche and Lipan. (Padilla, Tonkawa and Waco. (Hasskarl, 1962, p. 222.) 1919, p. 56.) In November 1827, the Supreme Government of The settlement of American colonists in Texas Mexico appointed General Manuel de Mier y Ter^n revolutionized the Tonkawa way of life. Beginning to command a field party to explore Texas and to in the 1820s and for the next thirty years the Tonkawa, survey the boundary between Mexico and the United as other Texas tribes, would be more and more limited States. Among the men appointed to this expedition in their movement over their traditional lands, and were Jean Louis Berlandier, a botanist and zoologist, in the late 1850s they would be removed from Texas. and Jos6 Maria Sanchez, a draftsman. Both of these When Stephen F. Austin and his party arrived in men left unique records of the Tonkawa of 1828. Texas in 1822, they found the Tonkawa camping The Mexican boundary party met an aged Tonkawa along the west bank of the Brazos River in the area between the Navidad and Colorado Rivers, probably of present Washington County. The relationship be­ in present Colorado County, Texas, on 21 April 1828. tween these Indians and their new white neighbors Sanchez estimates the age of the man at between was sometimes congenial and sometimes strained. In seventy and eighty years. The elderly Tonkawa wore the fall of 1823 Austin, writing to Lucian Garcia, a piece of deer skin around his waist and a pair of governor and political chief of Texas, stated that: tequs of the same material. The Spaniards, after feeding A party of Tancahue (Tonkawa) Indians have made, towards him, learned that the camp of his brother was nearby. the middle of last September an incusion up this river, and Three of the party, including Berlandier, went to stolen from citizens their horses, several of them of American the Tonkawa camp that day. Sanchez and General breed and very valuable. At the same time another party of the Teran waited until the following day to visit the camp. same nation went down the river, where settiers live very scat­ tered, and compelled them to give them com, etc., etc., with Sanchez recorded what they saw in his diary. They threats to kill them (Barker, 1922a, p. 702.) arrived at the Tonkawa camp about eight o'clock in the morning. Austin reported that he inarched against the Tonkawa and forced their chief to give up the stolen horses It was situated in the center of a thick grove at the entrance of which several horses were tied, apparendy all very good. On and to punish the marauders with a severe lashing arriving at the edge of the camp, Losoya, a soldier in our escort, "in my presence." Also the Tonkawas were ordered uttered the wzu* cry used by these Indians in battie, and immedi­ to leave the Colorado and Brazos and to stop stealing ately the whole camp was in motion several even started to or they would be shot, (Ibid, p. 702,) mount their horses, but as soon as they saw who we were they became quiet. They till came out to see us, and, while the gen­ During the early 1820s the Tonkawa became closely eral talked to the chief of the tribe, I examined these Indians associated with a segment of the Lipan . The about whom I obtained greater information later. Their huts two tribes apparently agreed that each could hunt were small and barely numbered thirty, cdl conical in shape, 68 SMITHSONIAN CONTRIBUTIONS TO ANTHROPOLOGY VOLUME 2

made of light branches, covered with the same material and an Lewis as trading agent. The signers were Ouchcala, occasional buffalo skin. In the center of each is located the Gosata, and Harshokena for the Tonkawa and Henry fireplace around which lie the male Indians in complete inaction, W. Karnes, Indian Commissioner, for Texas. (Ibid., while the women are in constant motion either curing the meat of the game, or tanning the skins, or preparing the food, which p. 49.) consists chiefly of roast meat, or perhaps making arms for their Five months later the Texas government entered indolent husbands. The elder women work the hardest because into another treaty with the Tonkawas. In the younger ones have a few moments of rest at the expense of on 10 April 1838, Secretary of War Barnard E. Bee the wretched elders. The men wear ear rings and other orna­ and Colonel George W. Hockley met with General ments on their neck and hair, made of bone, shells, or showy feathers, while the women wear only black stripes on their Campos, Colonel Oquin, and Benvido to mouth, nose, back and breast. On the breast the stripes are sign a treaty of peace and amity between Texas and painted in concentric circles from the nipple to the base of each the Tonkawa. It allowed the government to appoint breast. They wear nothing but a dirty piece of deer skin around an agent to deal not only with trade but also with all their waist, leaving the rest of their bodies naked, and wearing facets of tribal business. During the following years their hair short. This tribe is small and poor, being composed of eighty families, but they are brave friends of the Lipanes and the agent's duties devolved to simply trying to keep other tribes foimd in the vicinity of Nacogdoches and deadly the Tonkawa out of the white settiements. The treaty enemies of the Comanches, Tahuacanos (), and also contained the usual stipulations against killing Wacos. (Sanchez, 1926, p. 268-70.) or stealing livestock. After the treaty was signed, Sanchez also left a visual record of two Tonkawa Secretary Bee authorized the expenditure of twenty men and one woman. From his original drawing dollars for a beef to be given to the Tonkawa delegates, Sanchez y Tapia later did a watercolor.^ The drawing and they were sent back home. (Ibid., pp. 46-49.) shows a woman in a very short skirt and bare painted On 22 August 1843, William Bollaert, an English breasts. One of the men is wearing a long breech- traveler, met a Tonkawa man near the Colorado clout, and the other man is wearing a shirt over the River and wrote an account of this encounter. The upper part of his body. The shirt extends down to young man was clothed only with a "girdle round cover the groin and resembles early leather armor. If it his loins and a long narrow strip of cloth hanging is armor it is one of the last evidences of such gar­ before and behind; his body painted with Vermil­ ments on the Southern Plains. lion, . . . ." (Hollon, 1956, p. 188.) The Tonkawa During the next several years the Tonkawas raided was making a cabresto, a rope of the mane of a mus­ white settlements and Indian camps for horses. tang, for a local settier. On the same day Bollaert Occasionally they aided whites in campaigns against visited the boy's camp. other tribes. With their allies, the Lipans, they were The camp was composed of four or five families reported to be hunting between the Brazos and the and was headed by the Tonkawa chief Campos. Colorado Rivers, probably south of the Camino Real. Most of the people were drying venison and beef (Sjoberg, 1953, p. 283.) over slow fires to preserve it for traveling. Campos After declaring her independence from Mexico on informed Bollaert that his people had just returned 2 May 1836, the new immediately from a buffalo hunt in the mountains. What moun­ faced the problem of dealing with her Indian popula­ tains he is discussing here is questionable—he may tion. One of the first steps was to survey the new have meant the . The chief told wards. On 12 October 1837, the newly formed Stand­ Bollaert that he would soon move his camp to the ing Committee on Indian Affairs, chaired by I. W. coast so that he could see the ocean and hunt mus­ Burton, sent to President a list of the tangs and deer. (Ibid., p. 189.) names and a brief description of the Indians within The following day BoUaert visited Bastrop on the the borders of Texas. The Tonkawa, Lipan, and Colorado River and in present-day Bastrop County. Karankawa are lumped together in this survey as He noted: part of Mexico and "no longer to be considered as a There is only one store for dry goods in the town, and this was different People from that nation." The location of full of Tonkeways, bartering their buffalo robes, deer skins, these tribes is given as the western part of Texas. , etc., for powder, cotton stuffs, beads, and such like (Winfrey, 1966, vol. 1, p. 28-29.) finery for their , and an occasional bottle of wiskey from the tippling shop. This last is against executive orders. (Ibid., On the twenty-second of the following month the p. 190.) Republic reversed its attitude toward the Tonkawa and entered into a treaty with them, setting up a Seven years after his visit to Texas, William Bollaert trading agent who would control the intercourse presented a paper entitied "Indian Tribes in Texas" between the Tonkawa and the people of Texas. This 1 Reproduced in Jean Louis Berlandier, The Indians of Texas in control included licensing traders who wanted to deal 1830, edited by John G. Ewers. Smithsonian Institution Press, 1969, with the Indians. The treaty appointed Nathanial fol. p. 164. NUMBER 5 JONES: TONKAWA INDIANS 69 before the Ethnological Society of London. In this the Tonkawa fed, usually Comanches, had an paper he expanded some of his early observations entirely different view of it and eventually settied the on the Tonkawa. He begins by stating that "Ton- score by decimating over half the Tonkawa population cahuas (Tonkawa), appear to have descended from in 1862. die Comanches." (Bollaert, 1850, p. 275.) Aside One Texan who witnessed the Tonkawa eating a from this rather faltering start, his narrative about Comanche in the 1840s recorded the incident as the Tonkawa of the 1840s is of some interest. follows: Their present chief is named Campo, having some 100 warriors The only one I ever witnessed was in Webber's , the under his command. They roam about the white settlements occasion being the killing of a Comanche, one of a party that for protection, and have suffered much from the Comanches. had been on a horse stealing trip down into Bastrop. They were They are very active in fight and "to take to a bush like a hotly pursued, and, reasoning about horses as the Chinaman Toncahua," is a common expression. In 1840, they assisted the does about boots—that the biggest must naturally be the best—• Texans against the Comanches in fight on Plum Creek, and in they mounted a warrior on Manlove's big horse, which was part an account of this affair, it is stated, that 80 Comanches fell, of the booty, and left him behind as rear guard, while the bal­ and that after the affray the Toncahuas busied themselves in ance hurried the stolen horses away. The Tonkawas joined in cutting up the Comanches, roasting and eating part of their the pursuit and when the pursuers came in sight of the lone rear flesh. In another account, headed "The question settled," guardsman three of the most expert Tonks were mounted on particulars are given of a Comanche having been killed by the the three fleetest horses and sent to dispatch him. This they soon Toncahuas on the Brushy River, his hands, arms, and thick accomplished, his steed being a slow one. After killing and scalp­ parts of the thighs were cut off and carried to their camp as a ing him they refused to continue the chase, saying they must feast for the women and children. The Toncaliuas say that all return home to celebrate the event, which accordingly did by a the wUd Indian tribes wiU eat of the flesh of their enemies. The feast and scalp dance. Having fleeced off the flesh of the dead Lipan Indians call the Toncahuas "Man-eaters." (Bollaert, Comanche, they borrowed a big wash kettle from Puss Webber, 1850, p. 275.) into which they put the Comanche meat, together with a lot of corn and potatoes—the most revolting mess my eyes ever rested Bollaert's account points out two problems that on. When the stew was sufficiently cooked and cooled to allow would cause the Tonkawa trouble for the next fifty of its being ladled out with the hands the whole tribe gathered years. The first, and of more immediate consequence, round, dipping it up with their hands and eating it as greedily was their need to stay near white settlements for as hogs. Having gorged themselves on this delectable feast they lay down and slept till night, when the entertainment was protection and trade. On 14 December 1844, Cam­ conducted with the scalp dance. (Smithwick, 1900, p. 245.) bridge Green, agent to the Lipan and Tonkawa, wrote to Thomas G. Western, Superintendent of Anthropophagy or cannibalism was not solely a trait Indian Affairs, telling him that he. Green, had in of the Tonkawa in the Western Hemisphere or even February 1844, told the Tonkawa encamped on Cedar in . The word cannibal is derived from Creek to stay out of white settlements. Green had been the corruption of the name of the Carib Indians, who instructed by Houston to give these orders. (Winfrey, were the scourge of the Antilles when the Spanish first 1966, voL 2, p. 150.) arrived in the New World. In the Eastern United Two months later, on 12 February 1845, Robert S. States and the eating of human flesh was Neighbors was given the oath of office as the new associated with war ceremonies. The Miami had a agent for the Lipan and Tonkawa. In his letter of cannibal society in which the members were obligated instruction to the new agent, Superintendent Western to eat captives delivered to them. (Mooney, 1901, emphasized that "it is absolutely necessary that these p. 550.) On the plains the and the Indians (Tonkawa and Lipan) should be removed out practiced eating human flesh. In a Cheyenne cere­ of the settiements, as fast as practicable, to this end mony the owners of certain shields could lift a taboo you will select a Suitable place for their Camps on by eating the heart of an enemy. The heart was sliced the St. Marks (San Marcos) Either above or below the and dried, then pounded into a fine powder. (Grinnell, San Antonio, . . .." (Ibid., p. 159.) After five months 1923, pp. 199-200.) Also the Kiowa had a secret in office Neighbors was still receiving letters from brotherhood whose members were pledged to eat the Western instructing him to keep the Tonkawa away heart of the first enemy they killed in battle. (Mooney, from white settiements. This situation eventually 1901, p. 551.) led to the removal of the Tonkawa from their tradi­ The Texas coast and back country seem to have tional range to a reservation on the Clear Fork of the been a stronghold of cannibalistic activity. The Brazos River. Attakapa, Wichita, Lipan, and the Karankawa, as The second problem and of most lasting effect was well as the Tonkawa, consumed human flesh. The the Tonkawa appetite for human flesh. This cannibalis­ French captives from La Salle's expedition witnessed tic trait seems to have had little effect on whites a Karankawa feast. At the San Antonio Mission in associated with the Tonkawa. In fact, official reports 1760, the priests added to the catechism the question are unusually silent about it. The Indians on which "Have you eaten human flesh?" (Ibid., p. 551.) 70 SMITHSONIAN CONTRIBUTIONS TO ANTHROPOLOGY VOLUME 2

Why then, if cannibalism was fairly widespread, entitied "The Comanche and Other Tribes of Texas were the Tonkawa so severely dealt with by their and the Policy to be Pursued Respecting Them." neighbors? One answer is probably that they were Burnet includes in this paper a brief description of not secretive about their practice, and there did not the Tonkawa. He stated that the Tonkawa seem to be much ceremonialism surrounding the act. ... are a separate tribe, having no traceable afiinity to any other As Smithwick's description indicates, everyone in the band of Indians in the coimtry. They are erratic—live on game, tribe participated—men, women, and children. Also and are quite indolent—and often in extremity of suffering. other tribes displeased with the Tonkawas' coopera­ They have generally been friendly to the whites, though often suspected of having stolen horses from the frontier. A few of tion with whites, may have used their cannibalism these accompanied our small army in the campaign against as an excuse for revenge. The fault with this logic the in 1839, and rendered good service. There are is that Indians often made war on each other without about 150 warriors of this tribe—they have usually warred having to excuse it because of the strange habits of within the limits of our settlements. (Schoolcraft, 1851, vol. 1, their enemies. The issue therefore is cannibalism p. 239.) itself Apparently this had a real and lasting effect Two years later serious problems began to arise on the Plains tribes. Even in recent years in discussing between the Texans and the Tonkawas. In January the Tonkawa at the Museum of the Southern Plains 1849, it was determined that the Tonkawas had Indian at Anadarko, Oklahoma, Indians have ex­ been stealing horses and mules and had killed several pressed a general dislike for them. One woman called citizens, all depredations that had previously been them "witches." blamed on the "wild Indians." White officials de­ In 1847, three years after Bollaert's travels manded that all property be restored and that indi­ through Texas, Colonel Pierce M. Butier and Major viduals responsible for the thefts and killings be M. G. Lewis presented a report on the Indians of surrendered to white law enforcement officers. Instead Texas and the southwestern to the United of complying, the tribe's 130 warriors gathered the States House of Representatives. On 12 September population, over 650 people, and moved to the upper 1845, four months before Texas was admitted to the Brazos. (Catiett, 1850, p, 31.) union, these men had been ordered to negotiate a During the next five years the Tonkawa remained treaty with Texas Indians. A treaty with seven tribes relatively peaceful, especially when compared to was signed at Council Springs in Robertson County other Plains tribes who were marauding the Texas near the Brazos River on 15 May 1846. (U.S. House frontier. In the spring of 1854 the Tonkawa again Document 76, 1847, p. 2; and Winfrey, 1966, vol. 3, became a problem. Believing that they were reformed, p. 53.) The Tonkawa were then living between the the Texas governor, E. M. Pease, answering a peti­ San Marcos and San Antonio Rivers and were under tion from the citizens of Burnet, Bell, McLennan, close observation by Agent Neighbors. On 4 February and Williamson Counties, acknowledged that the 1846, he noted in a letter to Superintendent Western Tonkawa had misused their trusted position and that the Tonkawa were staying out of white settie­ would be removed from white settied areas. Pease ments and were traveling to the treaty council called advised that if a difficulty arose before the govern­ by Butler and Lewis. (Winfrey, 1966, vol. 3, p. 13-14.) ment resettied the Indians, that the Texans should In the Butler-Lewis report to the House of Repre­ move "... promptly to turn out and punish them sentatives of their observation in Texas, they describe (Tonkawas) without waiting for a call from the the Tonkawa as follows: executive." (Winfrey, 1866, vol. 3, p. 184-85.) . . , the Ton-que-was and Lipans: the first number about seven As part of Pease's Indian program, Captain R. B. hundred souls, the latter about one hundred and twenty-five. Marcey, United States Army, and R. S. Neighbors, They reside near San Antonio, in Texas, and have been uni­ who in 1853 had become supervising agent for all formly the friend and allies of Texans. They rely upon game Texas Indians, were sent to the upper Brazos River alone for subsistance; they do not cultivate the soil, or have any stationary place of abode. They are extremely depraved in their to survey two Indian reservations. The one chosen habits (this might mean cannibalism); great drunkards, and for the Tonkawa consisted of 35,424 acres and was fond of gambling. Most of them speak the with located in present Young County. The Tonkawa great fiuency. The vice of drinking ardent spirits is common shared this land with the , Anadarko, loni, only to those two tribes and the lonies, An no dar coes, and and other small tribes. By 1856 there were about . (U.S. House Document 76, 1847, p. 7.) 1,000 Indians on the Tonkawa Reserve. (Ibid., vol. Agent Neighbors' interest in his wards led him 3, p. 193-209 and Hasskarl, 1962, p. 224.) into contact with Henry Rowe Schoolcraft, noted Between 1856 and the summer of 1859 the Ton­ ethnohistorian. Through Neighbors, David G. Bur­ kawas on numerous occasions aided Texas Rangers net, ex-President of Texas, began writing to School­ and Federal troops in actions against the Comanches craft, On 20 August 1847, Burnet sent him a paper and other hostile tribes. In December 1857, fifteen FIGURE 1.—Assistant Surgeon Henry McElderry, United States Army. Collector of the Tonkawa material described in this paper. (United States Signal Corps, Photo no. ll-SC-83650 in the National y\rchives.) FIGURE 2.—-Tonkawa quiver, bow, and arrows.

FIGURE 3.—Tonkawa arrow. (Peabody Museum at Salem, Massachusetts.) FIGURE 4.—Top, Tonkawa bow; middle, rattle or "haw-whootes"; bottom, girdle.

..4L. ..emi"

FIGURE 5.—-Tonkawa bow and five arrows. (USNM neg. no. 2053-H.) FIGURE 6.—^Tonkawa trade tomahawk. fUSNM neg. no. 2053-D.)

2 I N.

FIGURE 7.—Tonkawa trade tomahawk, detail of head. (USNM neg. no. 2053-E.) FIGURE 8.—Tinder pouch and striker. fUSXM net^. no. 2051-.-\ FIGURE 10.—Tonkawa war drum and drum sticks. (USNM neg. no. 2053-F.) FIGURE 11.—Tonkawa otter skin girdle. (Courtesy of Museum of the American Indian, Heye Foundation.) FIGURE 12.—-Top, Tonkawa head ornament; bottom, head ornament. (USNM neg. no. 2053-B.)

FIGURE 13.—Tonkawa head ornament. (USNM neg. no. 6053-A.)

2 IN. 2 I N.

FIGURE 14.—Tonkawa dolls, front view. Note long breechcloth on doll on the right. (USNM neg. no. 2050-D.)

FIGURE 15.—Tonkawa dolls, back view. (USNM neg. no. 2050-C.) FIGURE 16.—Tonkawa George Miles, an old army scout and the last Chief of the Tonkawa, died in 1925. Note hair decorations hanging down the left side of his face and the long breechcloth hanging down to his feet. (Courtesy of Museum of the American Indian, Heye Founda­ tion, neg. no. 15272.) FIGURE 17.—Tonkawa woman, Ocoya, wife of Standing Buffalo. (Courtesy of Museum of the American Indian, Heye Foundation, neg. no. 15247.) FIGURE 18.—Tonkawa shelter, Ponca Agency, Oklahoma, 1901. (Courtesy of Museum of the American Indian, Heye Foundation, neg. no. 15205.) FIGURE 19.—-Tonkawa Lamar Richard's house, Ponca Agenc), 19U1. (Courtesy of Museum of the American Indian, Heye Foundation, neg. no. 15213.) MAP 1.—Historic Locations of the Tonkawa Indians. y^>2-'/(€t-

^• w N

MAP 2.—^Albert Gatschet's sketch map of the location of the Tonkawa Massacre in 1862. (Smithsonian Office of Anthropology Archives. c^.-^

• Fart Grift^v*.J\2j^

^ TK^- -^ir.—--^ i//' -yjrf^ f..< Jyr ^•^* •''^'' /' ^r^----^ c-'*-, <-.

MAP 3.-Fort Griffin Reserve, Texas, in 1871, showing the location of the Tonkawa Indian VUlage near the fort. (Courtesy of The National Archives.) NUMBER 5 JONES: TONKAVV^A INDIANS 71

or twenty Tonkawas accompanied a detachment of Aff'airs Elias Rector that "the Tonkawa have warm the 7th United States Infantry on a scouting ex­ comfortable houses made of poles and grass such as pedition through land occupied by Kickapoos. In they had in Texas. And for the chief I built a good April of the following year Chief Placido led a hundred double log house with Chimneys to each room and a Tonkawa and scouts for a company of hall or passage in the center, in which he now lives." Texas Rangers moving against Comanches on the (Ibid., p. 340.) During the summer friction developed . The Comanche, under , between Leeper and his wards when Indians sympa­ were overtaken on 12 May 1858, and were defeated thizing with the North began arriving at the agency. in an attack led by the Tonkawa. Iron Jacket was Fearing trouble Leeper moved his family from Indian killed in this action. Later the same year the Tonkawa Territory. helped the Second Cavalry and Fifth Infantry to Years of animosity toward the Tonkawa finally locate a Comanche village near present Rush Springs, came to a head on 23 October 1862. A combined force Oklahoma. During this period the Tonkawa became of , Delawares, ELickapoos, Caddos, Co­ the hated enemies of the Comanche, Wichita, and manches, and Kiowas attacked the agency and Caddo. (Ibid., vol. 3, p. 269.) Tonkawa camp on the south side of the Washita Because of the increasing hostility between Indians River. The immediate causes of the attacks were and whites, in August of 1859 Neighbors and agents apparently the return of Agent Leeper to the agency Samuel A. Blain, S. R. Ross, and Mathew Leeper and the killing of two Shawnees by the Tonkawa.^ began removing the Texas tribes across the Red (Mooney, 1901, p. 552.) River into . The Tonkawa were The attackers fell first on the agency. Its clerk and sent to the Wichita Reserve near on the his two assistants were killed as they sat around a fire north side of the . Neighbors appointed inside the main building. Hearing the shots, Horace P. Blain to take charge of the consolidated Wichita, Jones, agency interpreter, who had been sleeping in a Caddo, Tonkawa, and Penateka Comanche agencies. nearby house, sprang to a horse and rode to warn With Leeper and Ross, Neighbors returned to Bel­ Agent Leeper of the danger. A companion of Jones knap. Shortiy after their arrival Neighbors was was killed, but Jones rode on toward Texas. Leeper murdered allegedly because of his partisanship to hid in the bushes near his home until the next morning the Indians. (Nye, 1943, p. 28.) when he was found by friendly Comanches. After In 1860 the Tonkawa continued to scout for Federal killing the four men, the attackers plundered the store troops and Texas Rangers. In the summer of that and commissary and then burned the buildings to year, along with a group of Caddos and Wichitas, the ground.^ (Mooney, 1901, p. 552.) they accompanied a detachment of Texas Rangers Having dealt with the agency, the attackers turned operating from Camp Radziminski in southern Indian toward the Tonkawa. The 306 Tonkawa under Chief Territory. The combined Indian and Ranger force Placido were camping across the Washita River. A attacked a Kiowa and Comanche camp on the few of the young men had left the village to hunt Canadian River in the Oklahoma Panhandle. Ac­ buffalo and had apparendy taken most of the arms. cording to Ranger James Pike, as soon as the fight The combined force was mounted and carried rifles ended the Tonkawa began roasting and eating some of the "newest pattern"; they divided their force, of the slain Comanches. (Ibid., p. 28.) and part of them came in from below the camp. At When the Civil War broke out the Union troops the first hint of daylight they attacked the Tonkawa. withdrew from Fort Cobb and the Wichita Reserva­ When the battie was over 137 men, women, and chil­ tion, but this did not end either the fort or the reserve. dren lay dead in the ruins of the village, and a number Mathew Leeper, Blain's successor, remained at the of children had been taken captive. Six years later agency working for the new government in Richmond. the Quaker teacher, Thomas Battey, noted that bones To strengthen the Confederate position among the and skulls were still visible in the timber around the Plains tribes living in the Leased District, General 2 The Wichita agency was located on land leased from the Choc­ Albert Pike was sent to arrange a treaty with these taw and tribes. people.^ By December 1861, he had negotiated two * There is some disagreement as to whom the Tonkawa had killed. treaties. The Tonkawa seem to have been completely Nye states that it was a Caddo boy, smd Albert S. Gatschet, referring won over to the Southern cause and, even during the to a statement by R. W. Dunlap, a local trader, says that several hogs final years, remained loyal. (Abel, 1915, vol. 1, p. belonging to a Shawnee, had been stolen and killed. (Gatschet, 1884, 199-202.) p. 53; and Nye, 1943, p. 30.) * Some accounts have Leeper killed during this engagement, see The year 1862 was the darkest one in the history Abel: 184 and Hasskarl: 225, but both Nye and Mooney state that of the Tonkawa tribe. It began quietiy. In January Leeper escaped and in 1875 was corresponding with Colonel R. S Agent Leeper reported to Superintendent of Indian Mackenzie at . 72 SMITHSONL\N CONTRIBUTIONS TO ANTHROPOLOGY VOLUME 2 old camp.^ (See Map 2.) (Mooney, 1901, p. 553 and While their men were scouting for the army, the Battey, 1968, p. 58-59.) Tonkawa women were finding limited employment After the massacre the Tonkawa limped south, first at the post and later in the "wild town" below to and then to . They Government Hill. (Rister, 1956, p. 72.) remained at Fort Belknap until shortly after the Civil Events leading up to McElderr/s collecting the War. Following the Civil War the results of five years Tonkawa ethnological material began in Washington, of federal inactivity on the frontier were immediately D.C. on 15 January 1868. George A. Otis, curator felt. To aid in solving the growing problems created of the Army Medical Museum, in an effort to increase by the interaction between whites and Plains tribes, the volume of Indian objects in the medical museum, the federal government established a chain of forts sent the following request to the chief medical officer from Montana to Texas. The founding of Fort Griffin for the District of Texas. on the Clear Fork of the Brazos in Shackelford The Surgeon General has desired me to use every endeavor to County, Texas, was part of this program. On 29 July augment our collection of Indian Crania, and also of Indian 1867, a detachment of the Sixth Cavalry, Companies Weapons and implements. I have written to most of the Medical I, K, and L, under the command of Lieutenant officers in the Indian Country inviting their cooperation in Colonel Samuel Davis Sturgis established Camp accomplishing this object. I am now writing to the Chief Medical Officers of Districts to urge the matter on their attention, and Wilson, later to be renamed Fort Griffin. The Ton­ to request them to command it to the Acting Assistant Surgeons kawa followed the Army to this new post. (Rister, and others, with whom they may come in contact, who would 1956, p. 59-77.) be likely to aid in making such collections. On 13 April 1867, four months prior to the estab­ Besides Crania, Bows & Arrows, War clubs & spears, imple­ lishment of Fort Griffin, the commanding officer of ments of the chase, etc., we want stone arrowheads, axes & such like memorials of the extinct or fast disappearing tribes. (Otis, the Post of Jacksborro, an outpost of Fort Belknap, 15 January 1868b, p. 167.) was ordered to take control of the Tonkawa. There On the same day Otis wrote to Spencer F. Baird, were 150 Tonkawa living near Jacksborro who were Assistant Secretary of the Smithsonian Institution to "suffering for the want of proper attention and sup­ request a dozen copies of George Gibbs' Instructions plies." Although Texas had been given money by the for Research Relative to the Ethnology and Philology of federal government to supply rations to them, the America, Smithsonian Miscellaneous Collection, No. Texans were no longer to be responsible for the Indians 160. These, Otis wrote Baird, would be distributed and were to return the money to the Army. The order "among the medical officers at the western posts." also provided that if the post of Jacksborro were (Otis, 15 January 1868b, p. 108.) From the events of abandoned the Tonkawa were to be moved to Fort the next few months it is reasonable to assume that Belknap for protection. (Taylor, 1867, Record Group McElderry received orders from either Otis or Webster 98, National Archives.) regarding making collections of Indian objects in his At the time the 6th Cavalry left Fort Belknap in area. There is also the possibility that he was a re­ July 1867, Tonkawas were acting as scouts. They and cipient of one of the twelve copies of Gibbs' book. the rest of the tribe soon moved near Fort Griffin. On 8 June 1868, Otis wrote McElderry acknowledg­ The fort was located on a hUl overlooking the Clear ing the receipt of a letter from him advising the Army Fork of the Brazos River, while the Indian village Medical Museum as to the contents of two boxes of lay below the hill on the banks of the river. (See specimens being sent from Fort Griffin. On 13 August Map 3.) Also accompanying the troops on the move Otis wrote McElderry to thank him for the material to the new post was Assistant Surgeon D. Henry and to list all items received. Besides the Tonkawa McElderry, the collector of the Tonkawa ethnological material McElderry included several Comanche items material described later in this paper. (McElderry, captured at Paint Creek, Texas, in a fight between a 1867, Record Group 94, National Archives.) (See band of Kwahari Comanche and a detachment of the fig. 1.) Sixth Cavalry. (Otis, 8 June 1868c, p. 327 and Otis, At Fort Griffin the Tonkawa continued acting as 13 August 1868d, 373.) scouts. Their enthusiasm is pointed out in a letter by Less than six months after the Tonkawa material their commander. arrived in Washington, Joseph Henry, Secretary of I have the honor to inform you, that the term of enlistment of the Tonkawa Indian Scouts, expires on the 21st day of January 'Nye says that the noise from the attack on the agency aroused next and respectfully request authority to re-enlist a sufficient the Tonkawa, and they began to flee to the east. Thinking they had number. Owing to the fact that these Indians are always anxious reached safety they stopped, but the Shawnee and Delaware followed to accompany scouting parties, they are almost as serviceable and fell on them. Gatschez also indicates on a crude map in his journal without being enlisted and I deem fourteen a sufficient number that the massacre did not take place in the Tonkawa camp but a for the wants of this Post. (Whiting, 1870, Record Group 98, short distance to the east. See Map 2. (Nye, 1943, p. 31 and Gatschez, National Archives.) 1884, p. 156.) NUMBER 5 JONES: TONKAWA INDIANS 73 the Smithsonian Institution, began negotiating to have Woodward in the comparative anatomy section of the this collection along with several others made in the museum. McElderry indicated that a Tonkawa war- west, transferred to the Smithsonian. On 21 January pipe was sent, but it was not found in the material 1869, the surgeon general of the Army approved the that arrived in Washington. (Otis, 13 August 1868d, transfer of 309 specimens "illustrative of the manners p. 373.) and customs of the Indian of North America and of When the collection was transferred to the Smith­ Indian archaeology," in the Army Medical Museum sonian, two objects were not included—a buffalo hide in exchange for an undetermined number of specimens that had been dressed and painted and some berries "illustrative of human anatomy in the Smithsonian called "Owwah-cholic" by the Tonkawa. These berries Collection." (Otis, 21 January 1869, p. 563.) This material was cataloged as part of the Smithsonian were supposed to be the fruit of the Mountain Laurel collection on 18 February 1869. and were used as medicine and to produce "an ex­ McElderry sent the Army Medical Museum a total hilaration" during dances. A search for these items of sixty-eight items, among which were thirty-seven was made at the Army Medical Museum in January arrows. Four objects were of zoological interest and 1968, but they were not located. Both would have were turned over to Bvt. Lieutenant Colonel J. J. augmented the Tonkawa collection. Object Description

The following abbreviations are used within this Three shaft grooves run from the head to the proximal section: NMNH, National Museum of Natural His­ end of the feathers. The feathers are turkey {Meleagris tory and MAIC, Museum of the American Indian pt. gallopavo silvestris) and turkey vulture {Cathartes Catalog. aura septentrionalis). The shaft is decorated with a QUIVER, BOW CASE, BOW, & ARROWS, NMNH- narrow blue band and a broad red band. The nock Ethn. 8448 (fig. 2).—The quiver is 68.5 cm in length is spreading and the notch is angular. and is made of mottied cowhide. It is decorated with a The middle arrow is 62.9 cm long and averages fringe at the bottom and top and has seven feathers .67 cm in diameter. The metal head is 4.3 cm long tied to the top. These feathers are: three flicker and has a plain shank. The head is tied to the shaft {Colaptes auratus), two golden eagle {Aquila chrysaetos), with sinew. Five shaft grooves run from the head to and two {Melegagris [pts] qallopave sil- the proximal end of the turkey vulture feathers. The vestris).^ Also at the top are a small (3.5 cm diameter) nock is damaged, and the notch seems to be angular. crudely scalloped concho and a leather thong deco­ The arrow is completely covered with a blue pigment. rated with red, blue, and yellow beads. Inside the The bottom arrow is 66.4 cm long and averages quiver was placed a pouch to protect the bottom of the .67 cm in diameter The metal head is 3.59 cm long quiver from the metal arrow points. This pouch is and plain shanked. The arrowhead is attached to attached to a stick that could be an unfinished arrow. the shaft with sinew. Three shaft grooves run from It has three shaft grooves running its length, similar to the head to proximal end of the feathers. The feathers the other Tonkawa arrows. The stick is notched near are turkey vulture and are attached to the shank the end so that the pouch could be tied to it. with sinew and glue. The nock is spreading and the The bow case is 115 cm long and is made of the notch is angular. This arrow is also completely same material as the quiver. It is fringed at the top and covered with a blue pigment.® bottom. The quiver and the bow case are sewed Bow, NMNH-Ethn. 8459 (fig. 4).—The bow was together, and a carrying strap of the same material is described by McElderry as a "boys bow." It is made sewn between them. of Osage Orange {Madura pomifera \raf.] shn.) and The bow is 114.5 cm long and is made of Osage is 96.1 cm long. The bow is a single curve. Its section Orange {Madura pomifera [raf.] shn.) ^ Osage Orange is square and is single notched in alternate sides. was a preferred wood for bows throughout the Plains, RATTLE OR "HAH-WHOOTHES," NMNH-Ethn. 8449 and because of its limited habitat it became an (fig. 4).—^The rattle with tail is 95 cm long. It is made important trade item. (Carlson and Jones, 1939, p. from one piece of cow's tail. The rattle end was made 534.) The bow is a single curve, with a nearly square section. It tapers slightly toward the horns, is single * Feathers identified by Mrs. Roxie G. Laybourne, Zoologist, Bird and Mammal Laboratory, Division of Wild Life Research, Bureau of notched on alternate sides, and is strung with four Sport Fisheries and Wild Life, Department of the Interior. strands of twisted sinew. ^ Wood identified by Dr. Richard N. Jorgensen, Principal Wood Three arrows were in the quiver. They are de­ Technologist, Forest Product Utilization, Research Branch of the scribed top to bottom in the figure. The top arrow Forest Products and Engineering Division, Forest Service, Department of Agriculture. is 67.2 cm long and .73 cm in diameter. Its metal 8 In May 1886 an arrow from this accession was given to the head is 4.45 cm long and has a serrated shank. Peabody Museum at Salem, Massachusetts. This arrow is picttired The arrowhead is lashed to the shaft with sinew. in figure 3.

74 NUMBER S JONES: TONKAWA INDIANS 75 by turning the hide inside out and stitching it with pipe-tomahawk. The head is attached to the haft sinew. It is decorated with nine blue spots. A short with two square nails, one driven in the eye and the thong, attached to the base of the rattie, probably other through the threaded perforation in the poll. was used to tie it to the user's wrist. The Army Med­ The haft is highly decorated. It is wrapped with ical Museum accession records state that the rattie alternating bands of red broadcloth and gold velvet. was employed in "the war dance." (Army Medical The beading midway in the haft is made up of eight Museum, Indian Curiosities, Item 149.) rows of blue and clear beads. A similar design is GIRDLE, NMNH-Ethn. 8450 (fig. 4).—The girdle repeated at the butt with larger beads. The streamer is 156 cm long; its width ranges from 2.5 to 3 cm. A attached to the butt of the haft is made up of one fringe 35 cm long is on each end of the girdle, and a feather from an adult Golden Eagle {Aquila chrysaetis) small band of red flannel, ornamented with small and a strip of red broadcloth 49 cm long and 14 cm dark blue and white beads, is at the point where the wide. This fabric is folded once and to it are attached fringe begins. The girdle is made of three sections of six locks of hair, which are not human. A hand tie hide tied together with sinew. According to Army has been attached near the butt of the haft. Medical Museum accession records the material this TINDER POUCH, NMNH-Ethn. 8448 (fig. 8).—This girdle is made of is "tanned skin of Comanche In­ tinder pouch was once attached to the above described dian." {Ibid., Item 150.) An analysis of the hide quiver and bow case. In 1893 Otis Tufton Mason made by Dr. Elson B. Helwig of the Armed Forces used this item to illustrate an article in the Annual Institute of Pathology could not conclusively deter­ Report of the Board of Regents of the Smithsonian In­ mine the source of the hide, but it does exhibit stitution and his illustration shows the tinder pouch characteristics of human skin. Pertinent sections of tied between the quiver and bow case. (Mason, 1894, Dr. Helwig's report are included in footnote below.® plate 86.) The pouch is made from processed leather Bow AND FIVE ARROWS, NMNH-Ethn. 8461 (fig. and is 11 cm high and 8 cm wide. It is decorated with 5).—The bow is 133.8 cm long and made from fringe around the bottom and white beads around Osage Orange. It is a recurve with a section nearly the outer edge. The strap over the top of the pouch square, is single nocked on alternate sides, and tapers is slit to enable it to fit over a small German Silver slightiy toward the horns. Above one nock is a cir­ concho on the front. The pouch contains a steel cular extension 2 cm long. This extension is apparently "strike-a-light" and according to Mason it also con­ decorative. It is covered with a tuft of grass. The bow tained a flint in 1893. string is of twisted sinew. The five arrows are identical. WOODEN SCRAPER HANDLE, NMNH-Ethn. 8460 They are 69.5 cm long and average .72 cm in diam­ (fig. 9).—^The overall length of the scraper is 64.9 eter. They are mounted with metal heads that are cm. It is L-shaped and the scraper leg of the L is 6 cm. long, and the head is tied to the arrow with 27.5 cm and the handle leg is 37.4 cm. The maximum sinew. The arrowheads have serrated shanks. The diameter is 5.48 cm and from this maximum the handle arrows all have three shaft grooves that run from the tapers down to 1.33 cm. The wood it is made from head to the proximal end of the feathering. Each is Hard Elm {Ulmus species), and according to Dr. arrow has three feathers which are wild turkey and Richard Jorgensen, wood technologist from the turkey vulture. The shaftments are decorated with narrow red bands, broad blue bands, and narrow » Sections prepared from the specimen which you forwarded, your yellow bands. The nock is spread and whipped with number 8450/A and AFIP 1268516, can be identified as skin but not sinew, and the notch is angular. as being definitely human. The tissue is altered as seen in a desiccated or tanned specimen. The epithelial cells can be recognized but cell TOMAHAWK, NMNH-Ethn. 8454 (figs. 6 and 7).— detail is obscured. The epidermis is present in scattered areas and The overall length of the tomahawk is 51.3 cm. The the cells and neclei are shrunken. A keratinized layer is absent and height, referring to the vertical dimension of the head, the rete ridges are effaced. No papillary layer is identifiable and is 15 cm, and the width, the widest point on the blade, irregular bands of fragmented acidophilic staining collagen without is 6.5 cm. The head is a simple or belt axe. (Peterson, recognizable nuclei are present in the cerium. A few hair follicles are present that are consistent with those seen in human skin, but 1965, p. 18-21.) It is stamped "SHEFFIELDWORK the hairs cannot be identified positively as those of the American J. English & H. & P. Huber." The use of the name Indian. Sheffieldwork seems to be an attempt by American An occasional structiire is consistent with that of a shrunken eccrine cutiery manufacturers to benefit from the high regard sweat gland. for steel made in Sheffield, England. Both Huber and Desiccation of a specimen does not prevent species identification by English were producing knives in Philadelphia in the means of a precipitin test but 3iny process leading to coagulation of protein interferes with such a test. The AFIP does not run precipitin late and 1840s. (Peterson, 1958, p. 160, 162, tests. and 167.) The poll of the head is perforated and On the basis of the histologic appearance, the skin cannot be threaded. It was apparently made to be used on a recognized as animal skin and is consistent with that of humans. 76 SMITHSONIAN CONTRIBUTIONS TO ANTHROPOLOGY VOLUME 2

Forest Service, the L shape was achieved by bending tions through which sinew is passed and then stitched the wood. He bases this conclusion on the fact that to the leather backing. At one end of the ornament is a the wood shows signs of compression failure in the small beaded rosette or bob made of blue, white, and bend. McElderry indicated to Otis that the Tonkawa transparent beads. On the opposite end is a small fluff called this type of scraper "Wharts-how" and that it of blue feathers and a short leather thong. The thong was used in dressing the hides of deer and buff"alo. was used to tie the ornament in the hair similar to the WAR DRUM AND DRUM STICK, NMNH-Ethn. 8453 above item. (fig. 10).—^The drum is 10 cm in height and 46 cm in HEAD ORNAMENT, NMNH-Ethn. 8456 (fig. 13).— diameter. The shell is a bent hoop of wood. It has The ornament is the leg of a young Great Horned Owl two rawhide heads that are stretched over the hoop {Bubo virginianus). There is evidence of a red pigment and stitched together with sinew. The obverse side of on the talons of the foot. the drum, side seen in the figure, is decorated with DoLL, NMNH-Ethn. 8444 (figs. 14 and 15), 9 cm a green border around the edge of the head. Circling high.—The doll is apparently a male. It has leather the inner edge of this border are sixteen red dots; leggings that are fringed along the outside seam. Blue, connecting these dots is a series of small black dots. white, pink, red, and green beads cover the front of Extending in from the top and bottom of the drum the leggings. There is a suggestion of a hatch design in head are two parallel rows of large black dots. There the beading, but this is not clear. The breechclout is of are four black dots in each line with two lines at the printed cloth and hangs longer than the length of the bottom and two at the top. The reverse side has a doll's legs.^° Around the waist is a maroon sash that green band running through the center of the head. hangs down as long as the breechclout. The shirt is This band is wider on the two edges than in the brown broadcloth decorated with white beads which middle. A twisted thong is attached to the shell forming are arranged in a series of short lines, running up the a loop handle. The drum stick is now broken, but arms of the shirt and across the front yoke. Around the when the piece was collected the handle was 27.4 cm doll's neck is a necklace of blue and white beads. The long and had a head of stuffed deer skin. The handle head is featureless except for a prominent nose. The of the drum stick is wrapped with deer hide and eyes are two short lines marked on each side of the decorated with pin heads. nose. At the point of the ears is a set of bead earrings 23 with small metal amulets at the tips. The hair and GIRDLE, MAIC ^^^ (fig. 11).—The girdle is made scalp of the doll were found to be Mongoloid. Ac­ of otter skin and is 244 cm long and 1.7 cm wide. cording to the information sent with material by There are bead decorations 30.5 cm in from each end McElderry, the hair is Comanche. of the girdle. The beads are strung over a piece of red DOLL, NMNH-Ethn. 8445 (figs. 14 and 15), 10 cm flannel and are white and dark blue. This item and an high.—^This doll apparendy is also male. It has red arrow described earlier were given to the Peabody flannel leggings that are tight around the legs and Museum at Salem, Massachusetts, in May of 1886. flare out along the outside seam. The leggings are The girdle was later transferred to the Museum of the decorated with rows of white beads running around American Indian in New York City. the front of the legs. The breechclout is printed fabric HEAD ORNAMENT, NMNH-Ethn. 8446 (fig. 12), over­ and hangs down longer that the legs. The doll's all length 88 cm.—This head ornament is of twisted shirt is brown broadcloth. Its only decoration is a and braided hair and on one end has two strands of metal band around the upper part of the left arm. beads which are dark blue and white, alternating every Circling the neck is a two strand necklace of blue and fourth bead. On the other end is a cloth tie. The white beads. The ear decoration is of the same beads. braided hair is decorated by small metal clasps. This Only one ear still has a bead decoration hanging type of head decoration was tied in the hair on the top from it, but the string for beading is attached to the of the head and allowed to hang down the side of the other ear. The only feature of the face is a large face. pointed nose. The hair hangs in two braids down each side of the face. These braids are decorated with HEAD ORNAMENT, NMNH-Ethn. 8447 (fig. 12), white string and red flannel. The hair is Mongoloid, length 23.5 cm (tie and decorated bob not included).— On the top of the head is a string of four white beads The head ornament is a leather strip to which are topped with a strip of red flannel. attached 16 German Silver conchos. The conchos range in size from 1.04 cm to 1.91 cm and are arranged 10 Long breechclouts were typical of the Tonkawa. See figure 16; in a size progression. Each concho has two perfora­ also Sjorberg, 1953, p. 288; and Newcomb, 1961, p. 137. Conclusions

Because of their geographical location in historic pended upon the resources of the sea as did the times (between the and the Gulf Coast) Karankawans to the south. Nor were the Tonkawa and because of the relative paucity of ethnological data compelled to utilize the sparse animal and vegetable on this tribe, the Tonkawa have been differentiy resources of the desert as were the tribes classified by various scholars. George P. Murdock who lived to the southwest and remained footmen. If has grouped the Tonkawa with the , Karan­ the Tonkawa depended upon deer to a much greater kawa, Coahuilteco, and Tamaulipeco tribes (living extent than did the Southern Plains tribes during the along the from southwestern Louis­ early nineteenth century, this probably was due to the iana to northeastern Mexico, and inland) and there­ historic contraction of the buffalo range, the expansion fore in a Gulf Culture. (Murdock, 1960, p. 295, and southeastward of the Comanche, and Tonkawa fear of map opp. p. 293.) Doubtiess he was influenced by meeting numerically superior Comanche parties on Alfred L. Kroeber's earlier grouping of these same hunting excursions to the northwest, rather than to tribes under a classification of South Texas: North­ any decrease in Tonkawa desire for buffalo. This de­ west Gulf Coast. (Kroeber, 1939, pp. 70-73.) Kroeber, sire had to be tempered by the realities of their un­ however, evidenced considerable uncertainty about favorable military position vis-a-vis the aggressive his own classification of the Tonkawa. In his descrip­ Comanche. Certainly, also, the American settiers' tion of the Southern Plains tribes he stated "the invasion of Tonkawa territory as early as the 1820s Tonkawa may have belonged here rather than in was disruptive of traditional Tonkawa culture as well the South Texas area, at some time in their career." as conducive to the decline both in numbers and in (Ibid., p. 79.) importance of this relatively small tribe. More recently William W. Newcomb, Jr., influ­ My study of the small collection of Tonkawa arti­ enced by the concise summary of cultural data on the facts collected in 1868 appears to support the argument Tonkawa compiled by Sjoberg (1953), as well as his for Tonkawa inclusion with the tribes of the Southern understanding of the archeology and cultural history Plains in cultured classifications. Significantiy, the of the central Texas region, has classed the Tonkawa Osage orange bows of the Tonkawa in this collection as a Plains Indian tribe. (Newcomb, 1961, p. 134.) are identical in material and similar in length and in The data presented in the preceding pages of this details of manufacture to a Comanche bow in the paper appear to support the classification of Sjoberg U.S. National Museum, which is known to have been and Newcomb and the second thoughts of Kroeber, captured from a Comanche camp by the U.S. Army rather than Murdock's grouping of the historic Ton­ in that same year of 1868. (Jones, 1968, p. 44.) These kawa with the tribes of the Gulf Coast. are the short bows of an equestrian people. They con­ De Mezieres' classic statement of the importance of trast sharply with the long red cedar bows of the the buffalo to the Tonkawa in the third quarter of the Karankawan footmen described by Gatschet as ex­ 18th century, as well as the tribe's early acquisition of tending from the feet to the chins or eyes of the horses and their apparent use of them in warfare and physically taller Karankawa warriors. (Gatschet, 1891, hunting, certainly ally the Tonkawa economically with p. 12.) the nomadic tribes of the Southern Plains to the north­ The narrow bands of appearing on some west of them. On the other hand, there is no indica­ of the Tonkawa specimens appear to ally this woman's tion that the Tonkawa employed watercraft or de­ craft with that of the Comanche and Kiowa to the

77 78 SMITHSONIAN CONTRIBUTIONS TO ANTHROPOLOGY VOLUME 2

north. And the large double-headed drum is of a type garment would appear to be an impediment to an found among in the late historic period. active hunter or warrior in the field. Nevertheless, other articles in this collection appear Finally, the probable use of human skin for making to be Tonkawan variants of typical Plains Indian a girdle seems to add support to the unsavory repu­ artifacts or to be, so far as is known, rather uniquely tation of the Tonkawa for cruel treatment of their Tonkawan. The long-armed wooden skin dressing enemies, a reputation which was based primarily tool differs from the L-shaped, adze-like scraper of upon their practice of cannibalism. As I have indi­ wood or antier employed by Plains Indians from cated, however, the Tonkawa were not unique among the tribes of Texas for this trait. Neighboring tribes Texas to Alberta. The men's decorations attached of the Southern Plains, as well as the coastal Karan­ to the hair at the top of the head and hanging down kawans, and the Caddo of the Louisiana-Texas the cheek appear to be Tonkawan variants of South­ frontier also ate their enemies, or selected portions ern Plains accessories to costume. The long breech­ of them, though perhaps less openly than did the clout reaching virtually to the ground (pictured in Tonkawa. the photograph of the dolls as well as in the portrait It appears most proper to classify these longtime of George Miles, taken four decades after the dolls residents of Texas, whose survivors now reside in were collected, figures 14, 15, and 16), seems to have Oklahoma, as a marginal Plains Indian tribe. This been both a peculiar and a persistent Tonkawan study of a collection of Tonkawa artifacts, as well as trait. Whether it was worn only on ceremonial or a review of the ethnohistorical record of the tribe, dress occasions, we do not know. But this lengthy contribute to the conclusion. Literature Cited

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